Page 91 of Ambiguous
Taking a deep breath, I knock on Kurt’s door. I’ve been here a few times, but not regularly. It’s a tiny bungalow in a nice part of town.
He answers the door wearing jeans and a T-shirt and beckons me in.
“So you got lucky?” he asks. “Who’s the guy?”
I trust him, because we’ve been in this together for years. He knows how to keep a secret.
“Well, it’s complicated. You know many of the firm’s clients are musicians?”
He nods. “Sure.”
“I got assigned to browbeat one. Only problem is, I like him. And we, um, got together.”
A huge grin stretches Kurt’s mouth. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah. I wanted you to know. I haven’t told anyone else yet, though. Well, other than Em.”
“Holy shit. A clandestine affair.”
“It’s not like that. But he’s famous. Like, really famous.”
Kurt raises his eyebrows. “Will you tell me who?”
There’s no reason to keep it from him, I suppose. “Julian Hill.”
His mouth drops open—legit drops open. “Really?”
I nod. “But you can’t tell anyone.”
“Honey, if I haven’t told anyone the thing you and I have had for years is just for optics, I’m not telling them this.”
Squeezing his hand, I lean in. “I know. I trust you.”
A concerned look passes over Kurt’s face.
“What?” I ask.
“Just be careful, okay? A lot of shit can go bad when you get involved with a celebrity. And I’m not even talking about the Stone-Delmont campaign. It’s more… I don’t know if he’s good enough for you.”
I burst out laughing. “He’s a wonderful man.”
“Eh. He’s famous and probably full of himself. I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“I appreciate your concern, but I got this.”
“If you say so.” He thinks for a moment. “Are you going to bring this up to our families?”
I nod. “I think it’s serious enough that I need to.”
“Is it serious enough that we need to ‘break up’?” He uses air quotes. “Because I get as much out of our deal as you do, since my mom can hardly pester me to get into a real relationship as long as I’m appearing with you at her campaign events. If I’m suddenly ‘single,’ I know it’ll be mere moments before she starts setting me up with other guys. What if we just leave things as they are?”
I nibble on my lower lip. “What about when we get found out? Because I’m kidding myself if I think that won’t happen. I mean, if I’m dating a rock star.”
“Then we put out a press release that you and I have been broken up for a while but we kept it to ourselves.”
I shake my head. “No, I don’t think so. We should do it now.”
“And have the poster couple split before the election? Give the pundits something to talk about?”
